When the Kansas coaches started recruiting Jon Jon Kamara, some of his best film clips from high school were playing in the secondary. Between playing cornerback early in his high school career and then moving to a hybrid position he got a chance to showcase his athleticism.

But the days of playing in the defensive backfield are long gone.

Kamara moved to linebacker when he arrived at Kansas last summer and quickly added weight to his frame. He is currently tipping the scales at 230 pounds. Kamara was asked how much his body changed since getting on campus.

“I mean, I'm 10 times better,” Kamara said. “I thought I came in here prepared, but Sleeve has taken it to another level. I feel the best I've ever felt and I'm just ready for whatever's ahead.”

The athleticism and ability has never been questioned. In high school he ran the 100m, 4x100, long jump and triple jump. He convinced his family during his freshman year to go out for football.

After gaining weight and learning the linebacker position, he believes he has taken big steps in his development.

“I know the playbook now, so I'm able to play faster and I'm more comfortable and it's been allowing me to make more plays than I made past fall camp,” he said. “I feel very confident. I'm going up against a good group of guys and they make me better each day.”

Linebackers coach Chris Simpson has seen an improvement in all areas of his game. He recalls seeing some of those earlier video clips from high school and how far he has come.

“As a freshman and sophomore, I think he was playing corner,” Simpson said. “It's funny, if you do any digging, you can find a picture of him as a young buck, and he looks a different looking dude now.”

After making the transition to linebacker Kamara is starting to play with more confidence.

“He's becoming more confident, which is what you want,” Simpson said. “You want confident players that know what's going on, and that's certainly the case for him. He’s still working on transitioning to being a true backer. Things just happen a lot faster, but he's got great length and can run as well as any of them and certainly looks the part.

“I'm excited to see, you know, where he goes from here. But he's doing a tremendous job just because he's coming more confident and knows what he's doing.”

Last year Kamara played in four games appearing on special teams. That allowed him to preserve his redshirt and helped get the taste of playing Big 12 football.

He wants to continue to build on the progress he made when practice resumes after spring break.

“I just want to just keep making improvements,” Kamara said. “Because I'm going to let the film speak for itself and the coaches are going to see that I'm constantly improving. And I just hope that translates on the field.”